How much attention should I be giving our puppy?

[Gerry123]

Hi there,

We have a 10 week old show cockers spaniel bitch - she is lovely and successfully sleeping in her crate alone in the lounge until 6am with a 2/3am toilet break.

I wondered how much time/attention we should be paying her? How long should each tug/fetch/playfight session last for? Sometimes she seems to be an energiser bunny and could play forever - but gets very worked up and this ends in zoomies.

I feel guilty letting her wander around playing with her toys alone, it just seems so pitiful - but sense that this is a good skill for her to develop? It would be great to get some perspective on what is a good amount of time for a play session, and how many of these we should be providing per day, and good methods to have these finish calmly instead of with a hyper puppy afterwards.

She is so clever, and asks to be let out and hasn't had an indoor accident in about five days. She has also learnt to poop in two parts - first half of poo requires a treat, and then she goes to finish it and returns for second treat  I feel like we are slowly being wound around her furry finger!

[Barry H]

Sounds to me like you're doing a fantastic job!  Well done.  My advice would be to stop worrying and just enjoy.  Puppies have limitless energy but they're not pupsters for long.  And even if they live to a ripe old age they're not with us for anywhere near long enough.  If you've got the time and energy to spend with her just doing stuff, go for it.  It won't be wasted.  You're building a wonderful relationship that will last her lifetime - and yours.  If she's happy on her own, that's what's known as A GOOD THING.  Spending time alone is just as important as being with you.  She's learning independence and lots of other learning will be going on in her little Cockery brain.  Everything will sort itself out naturally in the fullness of time, so just relax...

Oh, and they'll ALWAYS be able to wrap you round their furry fingers.

Carry on...

[bizzylizzy]

  Its such a lovely time, and goes past MUCH too quickly!
I always saw the zoomies as them trying to squeeze that last bit of excess energy out before they finally flop! , and a good signal for calling an end to that play session. As long as she‘s playing „nicely“ and you‘re both enjoying it, then there‘s no reason to worry about limiting it, once any biting, snapping or grumbling occurs then that‘s usually because they‘re getting tired and fractious but you can judge that yourself.
Its a good habit to insist on play on your terms (n.b. what I say rather than what I do  , even at 5, mine knows how to give me that look!), - so you decide when play stops and starts. I usually end play by saying „Enough“ and simply stop. You then have to endure that „oh woe is me“ look for the next ten minutes but they do learn in the end!
If she plays on her own, then that‘s brilliant - so many dogs can’t - don‘t fall in the trap of feeling you have an obligation to entertain her all the time, they do need lots and lots of sleep at that age.
Its also an idea to start introducing a few mental games - sniffing out treats etc, that will keep her occupied and tire her out without her getting too wound up.
Sounds like you‘re doing really well so far!
Keep us updated! 

[Gerry123]

Thank you so much for your advice Barry H and bizzylizzy (sorry not sure how to reply individually!). I guess I want to know she is getting enough stimulation but also have her relax, yesterday she must have slept about 10 hours max and was extremely hyper in the evening - last night almost broke us and we didn’t get to sleep until 12:30 with settling her in her crate.

it’s really hard pre vaccination not being able to let her run around outside and I can sense her getting more and more restless! She goes on carry around “walks” in a bag and meets people and looks at lots of dogs but I know she is itching to walk and smell smells. I wish vaccination would work faster! She’s due for final shot this coming Tuesday and it cannot come fast enough. Hoping that the stimulation of exploring the world will help her be a bit calmer and that our local puppy classes open for business ASAP. Will look into more mind games for her - she’s great with commands and very eager to please - we are working on stay at the moment and she is nailing “leave it” with both food and toys. Thanks for the tips!

[Mari]

It sounds like you allready have the knowledge. The rest is just about finding the balance that suits the individual. Easier said than done, not sure I ever found it 

My cocker was rarely calm as a puppy. Sometimes I had to hold her and stroke her chest to get her to calm down from zoomies. I figured that was a sign I should have put in more quiet time or calming activities that day when the zoomies didn't fizzle out after a few minutes.

If she struggles to settle down at night then maybe calmer activities in the evening can help? Searching for treats hidden in a room. Or maybe a stuffed kong or a supervised chew in the crate. Chewing and nosework are typacilly calming activities.

I think most of us tend to overstimulate puppies more often than we undersstimulate them  Especially cockers I find are not always resting during the day unless you "make them" by removing stimulation for a while. A boring hour here and there is good for them. Plodding around and playing by themselves is probably very healthy as long as they get cuddles and attention as well.

We tend to forget that they are babies still when they come to us. Babies are easily entertained by simple activities.

Haven't had a puppy for almost 14 years though do not sure why my opinion should matter but there it is 

[bizzylizzy]

Ofcourse your opinion matters Mari! You‘ve had 14 years of putting up with experiencing  the consequences of what you did when Laurie was a puppy!  (only joking,! )
But seriously, you  have a happy healthy senior who‘s great for her age, so you must have got it right!

[Gerry123]

Thanks so much Mari - that is really helpful advice and much appreciated - we will try more scent work. We did some with cheese a few days ago and she still seems haunted by imagining cheese 

Does anyone else’s puppy go crazy over hard things? We have had to cover all the metal doorstops with Tupperware as she would just bark and bark at them. Yesterday she found an empty oat milk carton and it was 30 minutes of pushing it around the room and attacking it. Was great that she was entertaining herself but do wonder if that caused the super zoomies that night!

[MIN]

If you want to reply individually. On the top of each post is "Quote" button. Press that then you can write what you want to say. Press preview and you can see the whole post before posting   

[Gerry123]

Its such a lovely time, and goes past MUCH too quickly!
I always saw the zoomies as them trying to squeeze that last bit of excess energy out before they finally flop! , and a good signal for calling an end to that play session. As long as she‘s playing „nicely“ and you‘re both enjoying it, then there‘s no reason to worry about limiting it, once any biting, snapping or grumbling occurs then that‘s usually because they‘re getting tired and fractious but you can judge that yourself.
Its a good habit to insist on play on your terms (n.b. what I say rather than what I do  , even at 5, mine knows how to give me that look!), - so you decide when play stops and starts. I usually end play by saying „Enough“ and simply stop. You then have to endure that „oh woe is me“ look for the next ten minutes but they do learn in the end!
If she plays on her own, then that‘s brilliant - so many dogs can’t - don‘t fall in the trap of feeling you have an obligation to entertain her all the time, they do need lots and lots of sleep at that age.
Its also an idea to start introducing a few mental games - sniffing out treats etc, that will keep her occupied and tire her out without her getting too wound up.
Sounds like you‘re doing really well so far!
Keep us updated! 

Thanks for the quote tip MIN! Bizzylizzy, we did scent work today - her finding treats in 4 different boxes. She was so calm and tired afterwards that when I went into the kitchen (I'm wfh in a different room now to get her used to me not being there 24/7), she trotted over to say hello and fell asleep on my arm when I went down to pat her!

[MIN]

There is so much you can do with these little guys. They are like sponges. Soak everything up and stash it away in their brains for later use. We did scent training sending her all over the house to retrieve items. Little tricks like roll overs for a treat (that was a bad idea because she does it all the time and to anybody). She has a tub of toys which all are named and she will fetch whomever we ask for. Whatever you put in to soak up will reward you for a lifetime  Just watch out for over tiredness because it turns them into demons . 

[Mari]

Ofcourse your opinion matters Mari! You‘ve had 14 years of putting up with experiencing  the consequences of what you did when Laurie was a puppy!  (only joking,! )
But seriously, you  have a happy healthy senior who‘s great for her age, so you must have got it right!

  So true! And I'll probably make all the same mistakes on the next one. But that's the beauty of dog ownership. You can do so many little things wrong and they still become good dogs 

[Gerry123]

There is so much you can do with these little guys. They are like sponges. Soak everything up and stash it away in their brains for later use. We did scent training sending her all over the house to retrieve items. Little tricks like roll overs for a treat (that was a bad idea because she does it all the time and to anybody). She has a tub of toys which all are named and she will fetch whomever we ask for. Whatever you put in to soak up will reward you for a lifetime  Just watch out for over tiredness because it turns them into demons . 

Thank you so much MIN. I love the idea of naming her toys. And so funny about her rolling over! Ours is so clever - has learnt to High five in a day but now we are having trouble getting to stop high fiving! Now doing down facing hand for a sit high five and a upwards palm for a sit without a high five - which she is picking up fast! It’s almost overwhelming knowing that every second is a training moment and we are either training something good or she’s learning a bad habit - exhausted! She is good overnight - in bed at 11 in her crate and up at 6:30 and definitely NOT sleeping 18 hours a day - probably naps about 2/3 hours total in the day - so overtiredness demon is definitely an issue. She had second shots yesterday and vet says in 5 days she can go outside - we are counting the hours!